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“Incidents take place.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for the press, for the media – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA concluded in a recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed sanctions and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had strongly criticized the visit. But what was on display at the White House was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter the facts – and then blamed the victim. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject low for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. Trump has smeared reporters (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued media organizations for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has pressured established media out of the White House press pool for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted funding for vital news services at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an environment in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“many individuals didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that that year was the most lethal year on record for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for journalist killings has created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The effect on the public is deep. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to exist without fear and safely.

On Thursday, CPJ gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. My message at the event is the same as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.